Silver Lining
by kiley7
Summary: A Charlie/Joey fic, set about six months after Joey's departure.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Joey sat and tried to remain stoic, making her face a mask to hide any emotion. She'd been preparing herself for this moment for months and now that it was here it felt surreal.

Her image of Charlie had been idealised, as it must be when you're in love. It had taken her cheating with Hugo to make Joey realise how false the image had been. Charlie was nothing like the person she'd thought she was. Charlie was supposed to be her protector. She was supposed to be strong, and brave, and indescribably sweet. Charlie had gone above and beyond for her, had been there for her when nobody else had and she'd been free falling.

Joey had been hurt by Charlie before, but that had all arisen from Charlie's confusion and through being misguided. There had been a time when she'd been in the closet too; so she could at least understand some of Charlie's behaviour. All the time when Charlie had been pushing her away she could see that it was hurting her too, and it provided some small comfort to know that it wasn't about not being wanted..

But she had never imagined that Charlie was capable of cheating and lying, of betraying her trust in such an ugly way. There were no words for how much of a fool Charlie had made out of her. There were no words for small it made her feel, how pathetic. Running away had as much to do with taking a part of herself back as it did with getting away from Charlie. She had to keep her dignity somehow, she'd thought bitterly.

So when she'd heard that Charlie had moved on, she hadn't been surprised. She was relieved to hear that it wasn't Hugo she was with, but it still twisted in her like a knife. She'd wanted to believe that maybe she was wrong about this new version of Charlie; maybe it really had been a one-off mistake. That Charlie could move on so quickly was like a slap in the face. She obviously wasn't even sorry enough, let alone had any respect for Joey, to resolve things with her before she moved on to the next guy.

Charlie had told her about her brief relationship with Angelo back then, but it hadn't sounded like any more than a fling. He was just a rebound guy; and a crooked cop to boot when Charlie prized the uniform so highly. It was hard to imagine how Charlie could have forgiven him for what he'd done. It was a story she wanted to hear, just to fit the missing pieces together, but she knew she would never ask.

She had seen the hurt in Charlie's eyes when she'd spoken about Angelo and had thought it all came from the death of her friend Jack. Maybe she'd been lying about that too. Maybe she'd had feelings for him all along, and Joey had always been second best.

It crossed her mind that maybe Charlie was using Angelo as a rebound relationship again, but she quickly dismissed it. It didn't make any sense, not when things had been left so open between the two of them (or at least she had thought). And even if that were true, it didn't say much about Charlie's character.

They sat down across from one another; Joey with her arms crossed defensively, Charlie looking nervous.

Joey could not stand the thought that Charlie might pity her, or see her as some kind of obstacle to her new happiness. A mess for her to clean up before she got on with the real business of her life.

"How have you been?" Charlie's eyes flicked at her and then away.

Joey hated the tone of concern in her voice. "Fine, fine. Did Leah tell you she offered me a job?" The diner had been one of her first stops into town when she'd been testing the waters. Leah had greeted her cheerfully and when she found out she wasn't working and was planning to stay for at least a little while, she'd asked her if she could start immediately.

It was just what she needed. She'd worried about working so closely with Charlie's housemate and knew that it could get awkward, but that was the nature of being in such a small town anyway.

"She did, that's really good news," Charlie said. When Leah had told her about the job offer she'd felt silent judgement from her housemate in a way she'd never felt before. Leah had always thought highly of Joey. Although they weren't close enough for her to ever comment on Charlie's love life, Charlie was pretty sure Leah thought she was an idiot for letting Joey go.

Charlie was playing with her hair, looking everywhere but Joey's face. It gave Joey an opportunity to look at her properly. Charlie's beauty still took her breath away, and she realised she'd always been blinded by it.

"Look, Charlie. I should tell you I already know about Angelo, so you don't have to worry about telling me. You know how this town is, I practically knew before I got off the boat," she said.

"Who told you?" Charlie asked. A part of her was relieved that she already knew. She'd always wondered how on earth she could look Joey in the eye and tell her that she'd moved on so quickly after she'd left town.

Joey noted that her shoulders were drawn up, she looked tense.

"Aden told me. He was worried about butting in but he didn't want me to get a shock," she explained, making it obvious what they both knew. That he'd at least done the right thing, when Charlie couldn't.

Charlie exhaled loudly. "I guess you're wondering how that all happened. It's pretty complicated."

Joey shook her head. She couldn't hear any more excuses, any more justifications. In her experience, "complicated" was usually a word people used when they were the ones doing the complicating in the first place.

"You don't have to explain yourself. We broke up," she said simply.

Charlie tried to take her hand where it lay on the table and she moved it away.

"Joey . . . "Charlie looked close to tears. She pushed her hair behind her ears.

_Why are you the one crying_, Joey thought, _when I'm the one who's been left behind?_

"Joey, I don't want you thinking that what we had wasn't important to me, or that I forgot about us when you left. You know that Angelo and I have a history . . . "

"Charlie," Joey said, more harshly than she had intended. "It's really not necessary, this conversation. I wasn't expecting you to be waiting for me when I got back."

_Not expecting. Just hoping, no matter how hard I tried not to, like the fool I've always been for you._

Charlie nodded. It was useless to say any more right now. She needed to be forgiven, she felt like throwing herself at Joey's feet, but she knew that she was being selfish. Joey wasn't ready to hear her.

Clearing her throat, she swallowed back her tears. She had not been prepared for how seeing Joey again would make her feel. She'd tried to imagine it, but imperceptibly her emotions had dulled over the months. And they all came back to her now, sharply and in focus – it was overwhelming.

"Can I buy you a coffee?" she asked. It sounded trivial, such an every day question when so much was at stake. Now that Joey was sitting in front of her, the thought of parting with her awful. She wanted to prolong it for as long as she could.

"Thanks, but I've really got to get going. Still settling in, lots to do," Joey pushed back her chair and Charlie stood as well.

"Bye," Joey said, not meeting her eye, and brushing past her with her eyes downcast.

"Bye."

Charlie looked after her. There were so many questions she'd wanted to ask. Would Joey see her again? Where did they go from here? She knew being that being treated like a stranger was exactly what she deserved, but she didn't know how she was going to be able to bear it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Charlie had lain awake brooding for what felt like hours. She didn't know what to think or how to feel.

She didn't want to question what she and Angelo had. There had been a lot of doubts in the beginning, but she'd made the decision that she wanted to be in the relationship. He'd been there when she needed someone to talk to and had supported her when everything had been falling apart. She'd told him things she'd never told anyone, he had been the first person she had trusted enough to tell them her past. That had to mean something – but somehow, it didn't feel like it meant as much anymore. Maybe he had just been in the right place at the right time. It had more than crossed her mind to wonder how Joey would have reacted – the ways in which it would have made everything different. Joey would have never blurted out to Ruby that she'd been raped, and she certainly never would have suggested to her that Grant had changed in the intervening years.

It wasn't helpful to second guess it all now. Why couldn't she just commit to someone? Why was it always so hard for her, when everyone else seemed so certain of what they wanted? Why was it that now, when she finally thought she was getting things together, something had to come along to make her doubt her choices again?

The thought nagged at her that maybe she'd taken the easy way out. Angelo was familiar, and safe in a lot of ways. There was nothing about the way he made her feel that scared her. She knew that he could never really have the power to break her heart. People judged her for dating him when they knew what he'd done, she knew that, but it wasn't like she was the town's favourite person either. And Angelo had always wanted her, had gone after her so decisively; there was something seductive about that kind of certainty.

When she'd seen Joey earlier that day she realised she'd been lying to herself. She had known that she was still a little bit hung up on Joey, but she hadn't realised just how much. She had forgotten how strong the pull of her attraction was, the way just looking at Joey made her feel. In fact it made touching her seem like a need, not a want. She knew that she couldn't act on that need. She couldn't turn around now that she was trying to make things work with Angelo.

She'd been able to resist her feelings for Joey before; briefly at least, and she'd just have to do it again. Surely it would be easier now that she was with somebody else. Of course, worrying about resisting her feelings was neither here nor there when it was obvious that Joey wanted nothing to do with her. It was probably arrogant of her to be even thinking about it.

It stung to think what Joey must think of her. She must think that she was a horrible person. She wondered again as she had so many times if Joey would have forgiven her. If she'd just waited a little bit longer, to see what would happen.

It had been the waiting that had caused all of this in the first place, she told herself angrily. As time went on she'd gotten more and more despondent about Joey, more certain that she'd ruined everything. Had she replaced Joey with Angelo, to guard against the rejection that she had been sure she would face? Her relationship with Joey had started to become something she needed to forget about, because she was so ashamed of the way she'd acted. It was another failure, and it was even worse than so many of them because it had been all her fault.

That night when she'd been lying in hospital, and had heard Brett's words about Joey not coming back, ran through her mind. It had been so awful to hear it from him. She been sure of the fact already, but had allowed herself a tiny glimmer of hope as well. When she'd been walking past Joey's house, her heart had lurched in her chest. She felt like she wouldn't be able to take it if Joey were to walk out and see her with Angelo, but then there was a huge part of her that wanted nothing more to just see her face again, to end this feeling she had of always waiting.

For months she'd imagined Joey around every corner, had seen her in every dark-haired pretty girl.

She'd just fallen asleep when the door cracked open and light spread out over the room. He came in and she heard the sounds of him undressing, the heavy weight of his belt being placed on the desk and his boots dropping to the floor.

"You asleep?" he whispered.

She didn't answer and lay still, making her breathing slow. He slid into bed beside her and she wished that he hadn't come over. She'd almost forgotten that he was going to – sometimes with their shifts the way they were they barely got to see each other, so they'd exchanged keys and often each came home while the other was in bed.

Charlie listened to the sounds of him dropping off to sleep, relieved that he hadn't tried any harder to wake her. She just needed time to think, that was all, she told herself.

** ** **

She was on edge all of the time, keeping an eye out for Joey, but she never saw her around.

She felt so distracted. They'd always fought a lot, but lately she could not summon the energy to care enough for even that. Angelo seemed to sense her pulling away which only made him try harder to engage her. He took her out for a romantic dinner, called her more often. Maybe he thought that she was unhappy with something about the way he treated her. It made her feel awful.

She had never lied to herself that she was in love with him, in fact had never said the words "I love you", until he'd given up on trying to coax them out of her. But she did know that she cared for him a lot. She was grateful to him for wanting her when she was sure that she didn't deserve it, as damaged as she felt she was. She had been certain that her feelings would deepen over time if she gave it a real chance. One day she would be able to say the words and mean them, or so she had imagined. She had never had to try with Joey but then again look at how that had turned out.

Angelo started to irritate her in small ways and she found herself snapping at him. She hated herself for it but she couldn't stop. She began to avoid his touch when he tried to be affectionate. Her initial attraction to him had waned - the one based on his wants and that made her feel beautiful through his eyes. They still had sex but on her side it was like an obligation. She was able to go through the motions and it was okay, but the emotional connection she'd felt with Joey was absent and it bothered her in a way that it never had before. He didn't seem to notice that sometimes she just wasn't present in the moment. Thoughts of Joey intruded and guiltily she pushed them away.

She found herself thinking about Joey constantly, and she knew it wasn't healthy or good. Seeing her had opened wounds that had only just been starting to heal. Charlie missed her afresh, missed her even more because she seemed almost within reach but was so far away.

She missed the intimacy of being with her, of being able to open up to her. She missed talking to her – whenever she felt like confiding in someone, it was always Joey who came to her mind first.

Then there were the dreams, the same ones she'd had almost every night after Joey had first left. She dreamt of Joey on top of her, inside of her, dreamt of Joey's lips pressed to her own. She'd dream of holding her and of being held, and sometimes the dream would melt into reality and she'd wake up curled up into Angelo. His body the wrong size, the wrong shape. She began to be afraid that she was going to give herself away and say something in her sleep.

She began to be afraid that she'd made a mistake from which she could never return.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Warily she followed Angelo into the diner. They were heading off to work together and when he'd suggested dropping in for breakfast she hadn't been able to think of an excuse not to. She had been avoiding the place for days, knowing that Joey would be there most of the time, and she especially dreaded the thought of Joey seeing her with Angelo.

They sat and Charlie watched nervously as Joey delivered plates to a nearby table, looking like a natural as she juggled the meals and smiled at the customers. Charlie's heart beat a little harder at the sight of Joey, and she knew that it wasn't just nerves that made her feel that way. She was wearing black jeans and a tight blue t-shirt with her usual sneakers, and her hair was loose around her shoulders. Charlie took in the details, noting the way her shirt clung to her. She looked a little tired, but her skin still looked healthy and soft, and her eyes still held their warmth. Charlie looked back at Angelo, worried that he might have noticed her staring, but fortunately for her he was immersed in the morning paper.

Joey glanced over at their table and did a faint double take, moving her eyes over Angelo with interest. He was okay looking, she supposed, if that were your thing.

There was no way around it, she was the only waitress on shift and she would have to serve them. She put on her game face and marched up to the table with her notepad in hand. A small part of her enjoyed watching Charlie squirm, she had to admit. Charlie should know her well herself to realise that she wasn't going to give them away, but then again Charlie was pretty uptight in general.

"Hey guys, what can I get you?"

Angelo looked up at her and grinned, a little too cheekily for her liking.

"Can I have the big breakfast and a flat white please?"

"For sure," she said, writing it down and pausing to wait for Charlie's order, not making eye contact with her.

"Um. Can I have the raison toast and a coffee as well. Thanks." There was a tremor in her voice and Joey pretended not to hear it, nodding and walking away as quickly as she could.

Angelo returned to the paper and Charlie stared after Joey. She knew that she needed to tell Angelo who Joey was soon, before he found out some other way, but she simply could not bring herself to do it. Today didn't seem like the right time. For once she felt lucky to know that Angelo was a bit of an outsider. If he wasn't then somebody would have told him about Joey being back. Sometimes lately she walked into rooms and felt as though people had been talking about her. Maybe she was being paranoid, but she also knew what the gossip in this small town was like. It wasn't as though Summer Bay had a thriving gay scene, and someone like her having a lesbian affair was too juicy for people to _not_ talk about. She was starting to feel like she singlehandedly kept the rumour mill going. Between dating Joey, then Angelo, and then the revelations about Ruby – it was enough material to keep Colleen going for a very long time. Shit, she had barely even thought about that. She wondered if Joey had heard yet about Ruby, and what she thought.

Joey brought out their coffees and again barely looked at her. Joey leaned over her to put Angelo's coffee on the table and Charlie closed her eyes for a moment, because the other woman was close enough to touch. She could smell her shampoo, and her sense memory kicked into overdrive. She played with the froth on top of her coffee with her spoon, aware of Joey's presence as she moved around the room.

This was even worse than she could have imagined and she decided then and there that she needed to try to talk to Joey again soon. They needed to clear the air if they were going to be running into each other like this all of the time.

With their loaded plates in her hands, Joey came over again, announcing the dishes as she put them on the table.

Angelo grinned up at her again. "Thanks." Charlie almost held her breath, hoping that Angelo wouldn't strike up a conversation with her. Joey was grinning down at Angelo, her dimples showing, but Charlie knew her well enough to see that the smile wasn't reaching her eyes.

"You're welcome," she said, turning to go. Angelo tucked into his breakfast.

"Wonder who she is, I haven't seen her around before," he said, spooning eggs onto his toast.

Charlie didn't answer, filling her mouth with breakfast so that she wouldn't have to say anything. She wasn't prepared to lie and pretend she didn't know Joey, but she wasn't about to say who she was either. Angelo had always been insecure about the fact that her last partner had been a woman, and they spoke about it as little as possible. She couldn't imagine how insufferable he might be if he could put a face to Joey's name.

_Is this going to rear its head again?_ She remembered him asking. Yep, he was going to freak out, she was sure of it. He would find out eventually of course, and be mad at her for hiding who Joey was right now, but she'd deal with that later.

** ** **

All day she felt like she was moving around in a fog. She couldn't stop replaying the morning in her mind, the way Joey couldn't even look at her. She desperately wanted to speak to Joey right away, to apologise for putting her in the position of seeing her with Angelo, even though she was sure that Joey would just act like she didn't care again.

There had been a moment. She couldn't stop obsessing about it. As she'd been leaving, and Angelo had been walking in front of her, she'd looked sideways to steal one last glance at Joey. Joey had looked towards her at the same time. It had only been for a few seconds, but Charlie had looked into her brown eyes and it was as though a current of electricity had passed between them. Her stomach had fluttered in response, and the world had dropped away for one beautiful second.

Then Joey had looked away pointedly, and she had no choice but to keep moving.

Angelo poked his head into her office and she jumped, she'd been a million miles away.

"Do you want to have dinner tonight?" he asked.

She played with her pen, heart sinking, and wishing she'd already prepared an excuse. Being with him tonight was the last thing that she felt like. If she spent any time with him she knew she'd be obliged to tell him exactly who Joey was, and she didn't feel like fighting about it tonight.

"Actually I might just get some takeaway or something. Lots of paperwork to catch up on," she said, holding up a few papers for evidence.

"I can meet you afterwards? Or I'll bring some in and we can eat while you take a break?" he suggested.

"Thanks, but I'm really tired. I might just finish up here and go to bed," she said crossing over the room to kiss his cheek, hating it because she knew that she was just doing it to placate him.

He held her and rubbed her back. "You seem stressed, you could do with a good rest. Don't work too late, hey? I'll see you tomorrow."

She nodded against his shoulder, feeling guilty as hell. When he'd gone she forced herself to work late, completing work she didn't even really need to do, trying to make truth out of her lies. When she felt as though she'd punished herself enough she wiped her tired eyes and left the office.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Joey worked through her shift diligently, throwing herself into it. She felt worse now that she could fit a face to his name. Maybe she wasn't being fair and obviously she was biased, but there was something about him that rubbed her up the wrong way. He seemed smug or something. She tried to dismiss the thought, because she knew that she was being petty. But seeing them sit together eating breakfast like a happy couple had hurt. She'd felt Charlie's eyes upon her the whole time and it had made her feel even worse, like she were being monitored to see if she could handle it. Again it had made her feel like a pity case - Charlie was obviously feeling sorry for her.

It was clear that Angelo had no idea who she was or what had happened between them. Either she wasn't important enough to be spoken about or Charlie was too ashamed. Maybe he even knew and didn't feel threatened in the slightest. He seemed like a decent enough guy despite the smugness. Not someone you could imagine as a cold-blooded killer, but she still wondered how Charlie had been able to forgive him. There was obviously a lot more to the story but it was hardly her business now.

It felt good to be busy, to be out of the house. She'd moved back in with Brett and they barely spoke, especially since he brought up Charlie to needle her every chance that he got. Once he'd made a sick joke about wanting to run Charlie over again, and that was the only time she'd lost her temper since she'd been back. She couldn't be bothered even hating him anymore most of the time, he was nothing to her.

The truth was that she'd had trouble caring about anything much for months now. The cumulative effect of everything was to make her feel as though someone had laid a crushing weight upon her chest. The deaths of her parents, the secrecy of her sexuality for so many years, the rape, and then Charlie. It had all piled up on her until she'd reached a stage where she was depressed like she'd never been before. She wasn't sleeping properly and she was failing to take pleasure in the things she'd always enjoyed. Things like music didn't seem so exciting anymore and being out on the water wasn't the comfort it had once been. The smile she wore felt false on her lips.

She wasn't one to seek help. The counsellors she had seen after her parents had died didn't understand her like she wanted them to, and she had always felt uncomfortable talking to them about her sexuality. There had been one older woman in particular who had kept trying to tie all of her problems back to that. So she dealt with her depression in the only way she knew how - by dragging herself up in the mornings and just trying to get through each day. There was nothing to look forward to and nothing to alleviate the pain she felt, the ache that threatened to suck her under.

She'd always believed that people were essentially good but lately her faith in people had been shaken beyond repair. She didn't know how she would ever be able to trust anyone ever again.

Late in the day Aden came in for a coffee. He was as down as she was if not more – but here was someone who did revive her faith a little bit. He'd lost the love of his life in the cruellest way, but somehow he was still going.

Aden had looked out for her when there was nothing in it for him at all, had made her feel like she was worth protecting. He'd never stopped looking out for her and she was starting to look upon him as a brother. If only her own brother cared about her as much as Aden did.

"How bout a beer?" he asked her in his deep voice. "We haven't been out since you got back. I think we could both use it, yeah?"

She hesitated for a second, wondering if it were really a good idea. They were both pretty miserable and she'd never liked drowning her sorrows – it usually only made her feel worse. However, she'd been lonely and the thought of spending time with Aden was enough to sway her. It might even be fun. They made plans to meet at the surf club that evening and by the end of her shift she was actually looking forward to it.

She showered and got dressed, trying not to think about the possibility that she might run into Charlie.

When she saw Aden her face broke into a smile - a real one this time - and they hugged. He lifted her off the ground and twirled her around. She had the sense that they were both tired of feeling sad. Aden confirmed that for her after they'd bought their first round.

"Let's make a deal. Let's not talk about bad stuff tonight. Let's not talk about what we've lost."

Joey winced. What had she lost, compared to Aden? Belle had been loyal and true, and she and Aden had loved each other with everything they had. It was a disservice to Aden and Belle to put her pain on the same level, when Aden could never see his Belle again.

"Aden, what I've been through is nothing compared to what . . ."

He held up a hand in protest. "Let's not talk about who has had it worse. We both know you've been through the wringer the last few years. But we're not going to talk about it tonight. Tonight we're going to get sloshed and have fun. Okay?"

"Okay!" she said. It sounded good to her.

They each hadn't been out in a long while, and in their eagerness to have a good time they knocked back far too many beers in too short a time. She knew Aden must be even more hammered than her when started asking her rude questions.

"So how many girls have you slept with Joey, I want to know if you've seen more action than me?"

She laughed. From any other guy it would sound sleazy, but when Aden said it there was something endearing about it. He was asking so earnestly and she knew he respected her enough to never seriously hit on her in a million years.

"I doubt that. I'm not going to tell you my number, but I do doubt that Aden."

"Yeah," he said. "You're right, I'm a bit of a stud. Look at this." he slurred, pointing to his flexed bicep and trying to look serious. "Would you turn this down? I mean really. Wait a minute." He covered his mouth and then he collapsed in laughter.

She laughed with him and then tried to tell him to quieten down. They were starting to attract looks from Alf, the kind that suggested he might be thinking about cutting them off.

"What? Is Alf looking angry? Flamin . . . struth . . . galahs and . . . stuff." Aden giggled.

The more Joey drank, the more her thoughts turned to Charlie, and so she drank even more to try to block them out.

At closing time Aden tried to insist upon walking her home and he was so drunk it was easy to convince him that it wasn't necessary. She watched him almost stagger away. Joey had always had a high tolerance for beer, but she had drunk way too much as well. They were both going to have very sore heads tomorrow.

She knew she was in trouble when she started to seriously consider going to Charlie's place. It had been in the back of her mind all night. She thought about just calling, and she pulled out her phone and started to key in numbers before deciding to just go. All of the willpower she'd been exercising in trying to stay away melted from her.

It occurred to her that Angelo might be there and that this was a very bad idea. But all logic had gone out of the window. She just needed to see her.


	5. Chapter 5

_Just wanted to say a sincere thank you to everyone who has been following this, and for the awesome reviews. Hope you like this chapter! - Kiley_

**Chapter Five**

Charlie was lying in bed staring up at the ceiling when she heard a tapping at the window. Her heart leapt into her throat and she crept over, pulling her curtain aside. Squinting through the darkness she could just make out Joey's face. Relieved, and then surprised, she opened the window.

"Joey?" she said, shocked.

"Is your boyfriend here?"

Charlie shook her head, and was very grateful that he wasn't. She would never be able to explain this without one hell of a fight. Charlie opened the window higher so that Joey could climb in, and she put out her hands to help guide her. She watched as Joey softly hit the carpet, and noticed that she seemed a little unsteady on her feet.

"Have you been drinking?" she asked gently, not wanting to sound accusatory.

"Yep," Joey replied, her voice too loud in the sleeping house. She looked at Charlie, and stood motionless.

"Well . . . do you want to talk, or why . . ." Charlie didn't know what to say. She was happy that Joey had come. On some level, Joey must still want to see her.

Joey shrugged. The time stretched out between them. Joey crossed her arms and looked away, unwilling meet Charlie's eye. Through her intoxication she burned with embarrassment for coming here, and hated herself for showing such weakness to the one person she didn't want to see it. The reality of the situation hit her like a bucket of water to the face. She turned and put her hands on the windowsill, readying herself to climb back out again.

"Joey, you don't have to go, its okay." Hesitating, she put her hand on Joey's shoulder and withdrew it when Joey shrugged it off.

"At least let me give you a ride home," Charlie said, disappointed.

"No, it's okay," Joey whispered, but paused in her movements to get away.

"Look, why don't you stay here tonight?" Charlie said. Now that Joey was here, she couldn't let her go. Maybe it was selfish but she knew that if Joey left now she would feel lonelier than before. Maybe if she could just keep Joey here for the night, they might be able to talk in the morning when she'd sobered up. And of course the thought of Joey sharing her bed again was irresistible - even if the circumstances made it totally inappropriate.

"I shouldn't be here. It was stupid of me to come. I've had way too much to drink."

"It's okay. Please just stay here, okay? I want you to."

Joey turned around and nodded, giving in. She knew deep down that it was just what she'd wanted all along. Her eyes quickly took in Charlie's bare legs and arms, and she looked away again, her mouth dry. Charlie was wearing her white pajamas, the satin ones that did not leave a whole lot to the imagination. The same ones that had meant she'd had to force herself not to stare, when they were just friends and everything was supposedly innocent between them.

She would keep her hands to herself. She must, for her own sake. She didn't know why Charlie was insisting that she stay; obviously her protective instincts were kicking in again. Or her pity.

Charlie walked to the bedside table and flicked the lamp on, rummaging through her drawers to find Joey some clothes to sleep in. She found an old pair of her flannel pajamas and offered them to Joey. It melted her to see how vulnerable Joey appeared, standing there looking uncertain. Charlie felt a rush of tenderness and just wanted to hold her, but she knew she had to tread lightly.

"Here, you get changed. I'll be back in a moment."

Charlie returned with a bottle of water and was relieved to see that Joey hadn't done a runner while she'd been gone. She almost hadn't left for that very reason. Joey was in bed, lying ramrod straight with the covers pulled up to her chin. Charlie put the water next to Joey on the bedside table, and then climbed into bed beside her.

They didn't speak but each of them stared into the darkness, attuned to one another's every move. Joey scrunched her eyes shut and tried to pretend she were somewhere else. She could feel the warmth from Charlie's skin, creeping towards her under the sheets.

Charlie's whole body was tense, she was desperate to move closer and take what she wanted. But she lay still and waited.

Charlie listened to Joey's breathing and heard it begin to change, to hitch, and it became clear that although Joey was trying to be quiet she was beginning to cry. It was too much, being in this bed again. Her thoughts weren't clear, but misery had settled in the pit of her, and right now it felt like it was never going to leave. She wished she could erase the last few months and go back to the time when this had felt like the happiest and safest place she'd ever been.

Charlie turned on her side and gathered Joey into her arms, pulling her close. Joey's body was wracked with sobs and Charlie held her small frame, feeling her body warm and soft. It made her feel dreadful to hear Joey crying, knowing that she was the cause of it, and she felt a lump rise in her own throat.

She'd do anything to take back the hurt that she'd caused. She'd only wanted to protect Joey and instead she'd hurt her again and again. There was nothing that she could say, nothing could change it now. She hated herself for it. Charlie pressed her lips to Joey's forehead, and then to her cheek to kiss the tears away, whispering how sorry she was.

They lay against one another, both breathing hard. Joey had stopped crying. She was aware of Charlie's face inches from her own.

Joey's lips found Charlie's, and were soft like velvet. Charlie kissed her back, putting her hands to Joey's face. She could taste the beer on Joey's breath but right now she didn't care, because Joey had tentatively slipped her tongue into Charlie's mouth. They kissed passionately, and Charlie used her hands to move Joey on top of her. Her stomach jolted in pleasure as Joey's leg moved until it was between her thighs. This was what she had been aching for, for months now. It felt like she had never wanted anything so much. It felt like she'd come home. She put her hands behind Joey's back to pull her even closer.

Abruptly Joey pulled away, turning so that her back to Charlie and moving as far away on the bed as she could without falling off.

"Sorry," Joey said, and the word hung between them. It was obvious that she wasn't going to say any more.

"Joey?" Charlie whispered, her voice thick with sadness and shock at the sudden rejection. "Talk to me."

The silence was final. Charlie's face burned. Their kissing had excited her more than she would care to admit, and she felt at once turned on and incredibly guilty. Joey was drunk and upset, and what she had just done was definitely not okay. She had taken advantage of her. It didn't matter that Joey had been the one to initiate it – she'd invited it and she certainly hadn't been about to stop it.

Her hand reached towards Joey, and with effort she dropped it away. She lay awake, staring at Joey's back. It took all her strength to not move forward and hold Joey from behind, but she didn't want to risk her leaving altogether. She thought that she would never get to sleep, but the next thing that she knew she was opening her eyes to the early morning. She sat up in a panic when she realised that she was alone.

Joey was gone. She quickly got up and looked around. Her pajamas were neatly folded on a chair and when she got closer she saw that there was a note.

_I'm sorry. I promise it won't happen again._

Charlie crumpled the note up in her fist. She sat down on her bed and let the tears come.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

Joey felt dreadful. She wanted nothing more than to curl up in bed for the day and feel sorry for herself; but she didn't want to let Leah down so she went into work. Her head pounded and she felt sleep deprived. She was also paranoid that Leah might know about her little midnight visit – if she did she was too discrete to show it.

She felt completely pathetic.

_She was kissing me back._

She pushed the thought from her mind. It wouldn't do her any good to think like that. She didn't know what Charlie's behaviour had meant exactly, but it was pointless to invest too much in it. For one thing she'd been very drunk, and it could be possible that Charlie wasn't as . . . enthusiastic as she remembered.

She had thought she couldn't feel any worse about her situation - well she certainly did now. Charlie had let her sleep in her bed and had comforted her while she cried. She'd ruined everything by coming on to her and proving just how much she wasn't over Charlie. She felt utterly mortified.

The morning passed quickly. Aden came in to say hello and to buy an energy drink to help cure his hangover. "Last night's a bit patchy. Did I say anything stupid?" he asked with a furrowed brow.

"Apart from telling me you were a stud?" Joey replied with a corner of her mouth upturned.

They laughed and agreed that they must do it again, when they could face the thought of alcohol again.

She ate a greasy lunch and drank more water, and by the afternoon she was feeling a little less like a zombie. Her hands went clammy when she saw Charlie enter in her uniform. She noted with relief that at least she was alone. Charlie walked towards the counter and Joey quickly turned and went into the kitchen knowing that she must look ridiculous so obviously running and hiding. She tried to look busy but there was nothing for her to do. After a minute Colleen prompted her to go out and serve. She reluctantly walked to the counter, dragging her feet.

"Hey," she said, mumbling.

"Hello."

"What do you want?" Joey asked rudely, taking her anger at herself out on Charlie. Charlie was looking at her with concern and she knew that she must look awful. There were dark circles underneath her eyes and the lack of sleep was starting to tell on her skin.

"A coffee please," Charlie said briskly. She was hurt that Joey was treating her so coldly again, but two could play at that game.

Joey nodded and started to fiddle with the coffee machine. She glanced nervously towards Charlie and their eyes met. Charlie's blue eyes had been trained on her, and if she didn't know any better she could have sworn the look was a lust-filled one. Charlie looked like she was about to say something when Leah came out of the kitchen, and Joey looked back to making Charlie's drink.

After a minute she handed Charlie her coffee and took her money. Their hands brushed against one another and their eyes met. Charlie gently caught Joey's wrist and held it for a moment.

"Can we talk?" Charlie said in a low voice so that nobody else could hear.

Joey withdrew her hand and shook her head. She almost changed her mind when she saw how upset Charlie seemed at her answer, but it was simply too bad. If Charlie really cared about her, she would never have cheated in the first place and she certainly wouldn't be seeing Angelo now. Unless Charlie had come in to tell her that she and Angelo had broken up - which she knew was never going to happen - she wasn't interested.

Without a word Charlie turned and walked away. As always, it took everything she had not to follow.

** ** **

She was wiping down tables when she noticed Angelo walk through the door. Another surge of guilt flushed through her and she hoped that Charlie hadn't decided to unburden her conscience just yet.

"How's it going mate?" he said as he walked past.

_I guess not_, she thought. She was surprised to realise that she was actually disappointed. _Don't know why – I should be used to being the dirty little secret._

She scrubbed at a surface furiously and half listened as Colleen took his order. Thankfully it was to go.

"Joey, can you come back and make this gentleman a coffee please?" Colleen called out across the room. There was something overly polite and sarcastic about her tone and she gathered that Colleen wasn't a fan of his. Colleen disappeared into the kitchen to make his sandwich and she walked over to the coffee machine. Joey glanced over at him to find that he was staring at her.

It took a moment to realise that Colleen had called out her name, and that the penny had apparently dropped. He knew who she was.

"I don't think I've ever introduced myself. I'm Angelo," he said politely, holding out his hand.

She wiped her hand on her jeans and extended it. "Joey, nice to meet you," she said, and turned back to the coffee as quickly as it was civil to do so. She felt his eyes on her as though he were sizing up the competition.

For once she was actually grateful to hear Colleen's shrill voice behind the counter.

"Here you go Mr Risotto, a toasted ham and cheese," she announced. Joey quickly scrambled to put his lid on his takeaway coffee. She handed it to him and they smiled tightly at one another.

"Nice to meet you, Joey," he said. He looked like he wanted to say something else, but he left.

Joey let out the breath that she'd been holding, pushing it through her teeth. Colleen left the serving area muttering to herself about Angelo and Joey leaned against the counter. Maybe she should try to find a way to warn Charlie about what had just happened. But he had seemed pretty decent to her, and who knew what was going on in their relationship anyway. Maybe he'd known who she was all along, it were possible that he had just been playing dumb.

_Charlie is none of my business anymore_, she reminded herself. She questioned again whether she should even be here in Summer Bay. It was so hard to take seeing them both. She was glad all over again that she hadn't agreed to go and talk to Charlie. This was all way too complicated.

_Better just to pretend last night never happened, and to make sure nothing like that ever happens again_. She felt exposed, and she vowed that it would be for the last time.


	7. Chapter 7

_Hello to anyone taking the time to read this one - thanks :) _

_I just wanted to put in a quick note to say that I know this fic is a bit on the miserable side, but it won't always be. I just like the idea of Charlie paying her dues. I think her and Joey belong together, but I also want her to earn it._

**Chapter Seven**

Charlie washed her hands and looked in the mirror over the basin. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying off and on throughout the day. She'd made a mess of her life. She was in a relationship with a man she didn't love – and she'd cheated yet again. It was starting to look like she was incapable of being faithful and that was something she'd never expected to find out about herself.

Angelo had called to say that he was dropping over, and she really didn't feel like seeing him but she knew that she couldn't put it off any longer. She wiped her face and tried to pull herself together.

She couldn't stop thinking about the way Joey had shaken her head, and spoken to her rudely. Joey seemed like a different person to her now. She had known before that Joey could be feisty and ignore her when she deserved it, but now she also seemed older and wiser. Guiltily she realised that she was thinking more about her own feelings of rejection than about Angelo and how hurt he would be if he knew.

It was just that she had thought, just for a minute, that maybe Joey was still in love with her. Obviously she had just been drunk and hadn't been thinking straight. She had just wanted company and probably didn't really care who it was with - Joey wanted nothing to do with her.

_I'm bossy_, she said to herself, _I'm just not used to people standing up to me._ If Joey were rude to her she had brought it upon herself. It actually made her want Joey more, though she wasn't necessarily proud of that fact.

She jumped when Ruby pounded on the door. "Are you nearly finished? I need the bathroom. Angelo's here too."

Charlie wiped her face on a towel and walked out to the lounge room, giving Ruby a little hug as she passed. Ruby eyed her like she knew something was up. Naturally she'd asked a few questions about Joey being back, but for once she wasn't pushing her to talk about it.

Angelo was standing in the door way and stared at her when she came out, taking in her swollen eyes. She crossed over and kissed him hello.

"Can we go somewhere and have a chat?" he asked.

Her heart started racing - how did he know? She nodded and followed him out to her car, yelling over her shoulder that she was heading off. There was a sense of inevitability about this whole thing. She'd known that it was going to all blow up in her face and felt like there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. It was too late to go back and be honest now.

They drove in silence and he reached over and squeezed her thigh. She stared straight ahead, confused by his actions. He normally wasn't one to beat around the bush – what was he up to?

Angelo pulled over at the lookout and undid his seatbelt, turning to her. Another night flashed through her mind, another conversation in a car. She wished it were Joey beside her again – she wished she had never gotten herself into this.

"What's this about?" Charlie asked.

Angelo looked at her. "Charlie – don't. Don't shut down on me. I think you know what this is about."

She sighed, not in the mood for guessing games. It could be about Joey, it could be about how distant she'd been lately. She didn't have the strength to try to figure it out.

He let the silence stretch out between them, and when he could see that she wasn't going to talk, he took her hand. "I know she's back. I was in the diner today and I met her properly. Why didn't you just tell me?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't want to fight about it."

"Why would you assume that we were going to fight about her?" he asked.

_Because we fight about everything else_, she thought. "Because it was such an issue before, when I didn't tell you about her in the first place."

"So you thought you'd fix that by doing the exact same thing again?" he said, his voice starting to rise. This wasn't going the way that he'd planned. He had wanted to show understanding, to prove that he could be what she needed. He took a deep breath, trying to regain control of his temper. "You never give me a chance, Charlie. I can be okay with this, if you'll let me."

She didn't know what to say. "Can you?"

"Of course I can! She's your ex, we can be adults about this. But it makes me worry when you act like there's something to hide."

"You've got nothing to worry about. She doesn't want anything to do with me," Charlie said flatly. At least she could be honest about that, it was the truth.

"And if she did?"

"I told you before. I'm with you."

She looked at him, and saw that he looked incredibly hurt. It was obvious that he was reading between the lines and hearing that she wasn't exactly showing conviction about choosing him over Joey. It was becoming a pattern for her. She just couldn't seem to stop hurting people.

"Hey I'm sorry. I admit it has shaken me up seeing her again. You know how badly things ended between us. I don't like talking about it and I don't think her and I will even ever really talk about it, okay? Let's just put this behind us, can we?"

He looked like he was struggling. "Okay, Charlie," he agreed softly. "But can you just promise me one thing? If you two do talk or if anything happens, I need you to tell me. I can handle whatever as long as you're honest with me."

Well now she really couldn't feel any worse about herself. Several thoughts raced through her mind. That she should tell him now about what had happened last night. That it didn't really matter, because it was clearly not going to happen again. That she couldn't face a break up right now when she was feeling so confused. That there would be no point hurting Angelo for the sake of someone who didn't want her anymore. That again, she just needed more time to work all of this out.

She gave him a small smile and nodded. In that moment she resolved that from here on out, she would try to be more honest with him.

"There's . . . something I want to do, and I think it's important. I think it would help things. I want to try to speak to her, just to get some sense of closure. Would you be okay with that?"

He nodded eagerly. "Of course I would. If you think it will help."

They hugged across the car and Charlie looked out past the dark window into the night. Maybe it would help – all she knew was that she needed to move on somehow.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

The next day Charlie marched into the diner, determined that this time she wouldn't take no for an answer. She was happy to see that Joey was at the counter by herself; reading a magazine. The diner had just opened and the morning rush had not yet started.

"We need to talk," she said, more aggressively than she had meant to.

Joey looked at her, wide-eyed with surprise. "I'm at work right now, Charlie."

"I know. Can you meet me on your lunch break?" She was trying to not show how nervous she was, but she was painfully aware that she sounded foolish. She was putting on her cop voice and it totally was not working for her.

"There's nothing I want to say to you. I'm sorry, but I just don't think it's a good idea."

"Well, I do. What time are you having lunch?"

"Charlie . . ."

"What time?" Charlie said with her eyebrows raised. She knew she was being a bully but this was important.

Joey sighed. She could see when she'd been beaten. It was obvious that Charlie was going to hassle her until she got what she wanted. "I'll meet you out front at one o'clock. I've only got half an hour, okay?"

"Okay," Charlie agreed.

She watched the clock all morning, her nerves frayed. She had been hoping to avoid this although she had known it was going to have to happen eventually. When it was time she bolted down a sandwich and made them both take away coffees. She felt as though she were going to a funeral. Charlie was leaning against the wall outside and Joey joined her without saying anything, passing her the coffee.

"Thanks," Charlie said. She warmed her hands around the Styrofoam mug.

"Listen, I am so sorry that I came to your house the other night. I know it was way out of line."

"Please don't." Charlie said.

"Don't what?"

Charlie put her hand over her face. "Don't you apologise to me. I can't take that." Her voice cracked and she started to cry. Joey looked down at the ground, not sure what to do and not sure what it meant. "I'm the one who's sorry. I can't stand this. I can't stand how much I've hurt you."

"Charlie, please don't cry." She rested her hand on softly on Charlie's back for a second then took it away. "We're a sorry pair, aren't we?" She said in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"I know it's selfish of me but I hate that you can't even look at me. I can't stand feeling like you hate me."

They were looking at each other properly for the first time in months. Each felt lost in the other's eyes, like there was nowhere to hide.

"You know that I don't hate you." Joey motioned for them to walk so that people wouldn't stare at them on the way into the diner. "I wish I did. Maybe it would make all of this easier." It was true – she had tried her best to hate her. For a while she even fooled herself that she'd succeeded. Now that she was in her presence and was seeing Charlie so vulnerable she knew that she would never be able to manage that.

"Well, can't we be friends?"

"No Charlie. I'm sorry, but I can't be your friend," Joey replied firmly. It had been obvious to her from the start that a friendship between them wouldn't work with the way that she felt. Before they'd been in a relationship she'd known that it would be self-destructive to even try.

"So it's all or nothing? A relationship or you don't want to know me at all?"

"Don't say it like that. That's not how it is," she softened, looking at Charlie out of the corner of her eye. "It's just that I don't think it's healthy for us to be friends. For one thing I still feel awkward around you, and I know you feel the same around me."

"So? That would go away, if we saw each other more. Of course we're going to feel awkward with everything that's happened" Charlie said, rubbing her wrist across her face, impatiently wiping her tears away.

"Can't we just keep going how we have been? Just mostly staying out of each other's way? It all feels bad now, but this will fade. One day we'll just see each other around and it won't hurt as much. Or at least, it won't hurt me. I didn't mean to. . ."

"It hurts me too," Charlie said, and Joey knew from the pain in her voice that she was telling the truth. Joey felt her stomach clench with emotion but she didn't react to the words.

"Okay, well let's make a truce. We'll agree that if we see each other around, we'll be nice to each other. And maybe one day in the future we can be friends. Deal?" Joey asked.

"Deal," Charlie replied. They shook hands and Charlie held onto Joey's for longer than was necessary. "Can I give you a hug Joey?"

"Don't push your luck," Joey laughed. Charlie looked away, her tears starting afresh.

Joey felt awful, and said softly, "hey, it's okay. I was only teasing." She moved a little bit closer and tentatively put her arm around Charlie, who pulled her close. They breathed each other in and held one another tight.

For Joey the world had stopped. She'd gone backwards to the way she had felt when they first got together, like there was something miraculous about Charlie touching her. Charlie's arms encircled her in a way that made her feel safe – like she was precious and worth protecting. And their bodies were pressed so close she could feel the softness of Charlie's breasts against her. This was why they could never be friends. She pulled away. "I'd better go," she said.

Charlie nodded. She knew that if she tried to talk she'd start crying again. "I'll see you around," she managed to get out.

"See ya," Joey said, and walked away.


	9. Chapter 9

_Thanks once again for reading and reviewing, all your comments are most appreciated :) I just wanted to assure you guys that I'm no Cameron Welsh, and that I promise our ladies are going to find their way back to one another. Always darkest before the dawn, and all of that ;)_

**Chapter Nine**

She was staring at a file on her desk, but the words weren't registering in her thoughts. A sense of relief had settled over her after she'd spoken to Joey. The remoteness with which she'd been treated had been replaced by some of the warmth that she had desperately been craving. Charlie was so grateful that Joey had let her walls down, just a little bit. She had seen Joey again – the one that laughed and teased her – if only for a second.

That didn't mean that she was happy exactly. She wanted to spend time with Joey and she didn't care what capacity that was in. If Joey had accepted her friendship Charlie would have clung to it gratefully. She would do anything if it meant that they could be close again.

She struggled with the knowledge that there was nothing that she could do to change Joey's mind. Joey was perhaps the most headstrong person she had ever met, aside from herself. If she begged her to stay she would go. If she asked for a friend, she would be offered an acquaintance.

Simply put, Joey was too good for her. Joey had always put herself down. She was always highlighting that she had no friends, or that she couldn't hold down a job. But what she couldn't see was her own innate goodness. _She never would have hurt me. She never would have let me down, _Charlie thought_. _

When she had held Joey it had felt unmistakably right - she hadn't wanted to let go.

She looked up at the door as Angelo walked through, not bothering to knock. It irritated her when he acted too familiar with her while they were at work.

He didn't bother with preliminaries. "Did you talk to Joey today?"

"Yes, I talked to her," she said testily. It annoyed her that he was asking, and she had to remind herself that she had essentially asked for his permission.

"And?" he pushed ahead aggressively.

She sighed. "And we cleared the air a bit, I suppose. I feel a bit better."

Smiling, he said, "good, good. Do you think you'll be seeing her much?"

"No, not really."

She noted that he was trying not to look too happy about it, but he was smiling slightly. "Listen, I've got a lot of work to do. We can talk later," she cut him off before he could ask for any more details. Angelo nodded and excused himself. Charlie slammed the file shut. Since Joey had come back, it bothered her more than ever – the way she and Angelo were with one another. It was like they could barely manage civility sometimes. Angelo's way of communicating was to get pissy, and she was no better. There was always this tension between them, and she had always mistakenly translated it into passion.

_You need to end this soon, _she told herself – and not for the first time.

** ** **

They kept to their word. Over the weeks, Joey started to feel like she might be making some progress. Just having that conversation with Charlie, and the determination she felt to move forward, made her feel like maybe it were possible. She was still having trouble sleeping, but she found herself smiling a little bit more often.

Every time Charlie came into the diner it felt like she suffered a setback. They were polite and pleasant with one another, and worked hard at acting like nothing had ever happened between them. The strain of it wore on her. She found herself waiting for Charlie to come, and when she left Joey would dissect every minute of their interaction.

It might be just her imagination, but it felt like Charlie was coming in more than necessary, just to see her. She'd always drunk a lot of coffee but now she came in every day without fail, sometimes more than once. She didn't know whether to be flattered or annoyed. It wasn't clear to her whether Charlie really wanted to see her or was just checking up on her. It was also possible that she was working at wearing down her resistance and trying to manoeuvre them into a friendship. She had never been very good at taking no for an answer.

"Hello Constable Buckton," Joey joked as she approached the table. "Did you come in for some donuts?"

"What?" Charlie said, looking confused. She never ate junk food, Joey knew that.

"You know . . . because cops like donuts?"

Charlie smiled. "Oh right. Just a coffee for me, please." She said, dropping her smile when Joey walked away. She wished Joey would stay and chat to her, just for a little while. Early on she'd asked Joey to join her for breakfast one morning, but Joey had declined saying that she couldn't take a break. Charlie had gotten the message and had never asked again.

"So you've been coming in a lot lately. Is Leah's plunger broken or something?" Joey said as she placed the steaming coffee in front of Charlie. She couldn't resist commenting. If she were honest she'd admit that she liked seeing Charlie so often – but that didn't mean that it should be happening. It was defeating the purpose of their agreement. And making it harder for her to move on.

Charlie looked down, trying not to visibly squirm. "Just lazy I guess. I've been leaving too late in the mornings. It's easier to just buy it." She felt so embarrassed, knowing that her story were paper thin. If she were running late she wouldn't have time to sit around in the diner.

Joey didn't think before she did it. She just leaned down close to Charlie's ear from behind her and said suggestively, "Maybe you just like being waited on." Their heads were close and almost touching; and Joey had laid a hand on her shoulder. Charlie felt Joey's lips and warm breath near her ear, and Charlie's skin broke out in goose bumps. She wished they weren't in a public place – she wished Joey would kiss her neck. Then there was only empty space behind her.

"What was that all about?" Ruby squealed, flinging herself down onto the chair across from Charlie.

Charlie cleared her throat, then picked up her coffee and sipped on it. Not knowing the answer herself, she didn't know what to say.

"You're blushing!" Ruby said accusingly. "What did she say to you? She said something dirty, didn't she?"

Charlie was not about to explain that it wasn't what she'd said, but the way in which she'd said it.

"Nothing."

"What's going on between you two?"

"_Nothing," _Charlie said emphatically. "I'm with Angelo."

Ruby looked at her sceptically. "Whatever." It was not the first time she'd tried to speak to her about Joey. As usual, trying to get Charlie to talk about her feelings was like getting blood out of a stone. She rolled her eyes when Charlie turned her head to stare at Joey.

Ruby didn't know who Charlie thought she was kidding.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

Joey walked back to the counter, feeling a little bit shaky on her legs. Being so close to Charlie had always had a habit of making her go weak in the knees, and today was no exception. Still she felt a strange sense of her own power - she realised with a jolt that she wasn't intimidated by Charlie anymore. She had always thought of Charlie as being high above her - she was a little bit older, and definitely more settled in her career. Now she realised that somewhere along the line they had become equals.

She smiled to herself, her dimples showing. She felt Charlie's eyes on her from the table. There was nothing wrong with a little harmless flirting, was there?

** ** **

Aden looked past her, a sly grin on his face.

"What?" she asked. She turned her head to see what he was staring at, and whipped it back when he told her not to look.

"Don't look now, but there's a chick at the bar who keeps looking at you."

"How do you know it's me she likes? It's probably you she's after. Nine times out of ten, a girl is straight, it's a statistical likelihood," she said mock condescendingly. After he had asked her about the mechanics of lesbian sex after a few too many beers, she liked to tease him by acting like the expert on all things gay.

"Nope, it's definitely you. I'm going to ask her to join us for a drink," he stood up to go.

"Aden, don't!" she tugged at his arm, trying to make him sit back down.

"I'm going." He put his hand to his chest. "I'm your wing man." He charged off to the bar and Joey couldn't look behind her. She hoped he wasn't being too embarrassing. She chanced a look, trying to see out of the corner of her eye so it wouldn't be too obvious. All she could see was that it was a taller girl with blonde hair.

Aden returned with the woman in tow. "Joey, this is Emily. She's here by herself so I asked her if she wanted to have a drink with us."

"Hi," the girl said. "I hope you don't mind me crashing."

"No, of course not," Joey smiled. She was definitely not looking for anything, but she had to admit that Emily was stunning. She had shoulder-length dark blonde hair, and soft brown eyes.

Emily sat down. A few beers and a lot of chatting later, Joey was surprised at how much she was enjoying herself. Emily was funny and sweet, and she was almost relieved to discover that Emily wasn't single – she could definitely see herself developing a crush. She was gay though, Aden had been right about that. It turned out she hadn't really been checking Joey out, just saw a couple of people her age and was hoping to hang out. Emily was in town visiting her parents, and had a girlfriend back home in Queensland. She explained that she'd been bored – she hadn't been able to find much to do in Summer Bay.

After talking about herself, Emily looked at them expectantly. "So what's your story, you two? Are you married? I see you're wearing a ring, Aden."

Aden looked sadly down at his ring finger. "Yeah. My wife – she passed away."

Emily's eyes filled with compassion. "God, I'm so sorry to hear that."

"Thanks." Aden said. He took a swig of beer, not meeting anyone's eyes. He motioned towards Joey. "Your turn, Jo."

"Anyone on the scene?" Emily said tactfully. She suspected Joey was gay but didn't want to be presumptuous.

"Oh no, I'm very single," Joey said.

"_Very_ single eh, sounds like there's a story behind that," Emily replied.

"She plays for your team," Aden said helpfully. He could read the subtext enough to know that Emily had been trying to figure that out. Joey frowned at him.

Emily slapped her palm to her forehead. "Thank god for that! I was starting to think I was the only gay person in Summer Bay!"

Joey laughed – she certainly knew what that felt like. "You pretty much are I think – it's just you and me. Well not literally, but close enough."

"And I thought rural Queensland had a quiet gay scene. Must make dating hard?"

"Ooooh yeah," Joey confirmed. "I was seeing someone for a little while a few months back, but it didn't work out. Straight girl."

Emily winced. "Ouch. We've all been there." Emily and Joey clinked glasses, both smiling at finding common ground. Aden was looking back and forth between them, fascinated.

"Hold on, hold on. Charlie's isn't straight is she?" Aden asked, confused. They had talked about Charlie a little bit, but they hadn't exactly gone into identity politics. It was different hearing two gay women talk about it. It was like they were speaking a secret language.

Joey scoffed. "She's got a boyfriend hasn't she? And I seem to recall her cheating on me with a guy? Sounds pretty straight to me."

"Yeah I know, but she was with you. Doesn't that make her bisexual?" he asked.

Joey shrugged. "That's what I thought for a while. But I don't know. She was never really comfortable with being with a woman. I was the first girl she was with," she explained for Emily's benefit.

Emily was intrigued. "Well that could just be the coming out jitters. Wait a minute, what does _she_ say she is?"

"She never wanted to label herself," Joey said. It hadn't been an issue at the time that they were together – it hadn't seemed important. It was only after they'd broken up that Joey started to think differently. After that it had seemed like the _only_ thing that mattered. In retrospect sexuality had been their biggest problem from the very start, when Charlie had declared that she had never thought of herself as gay and couldn't go there.

"Okay, that's fair enough . . . but you think she was genuine with you? Like she wasn't just trying it on?" Emily prodded.

Joey looked down at her drink. Images flashed through her mind, of Charlie. _Saying she loved me for the first time . . . making love for hours . . . waking up next to each other and playing in bed . . . holding each other on the couch, her stroking my hair._ In her heart of hearts, she knew all of that was real.

"No, I think she was serious about it," Joey said.

"Hmm," Emily said. She wanted to ask more, but they were clearly touching a nerve. Joey was starting to look upset at the turn the conversation had taken – it was obvious that whatever had happened had been very painful.

"Who wants drinks?" Aden asked, clapping his hands together.

Emily watched as Joey leaned back against the couch, with a far away look in her eyes.


	11. Chapter 11

_This chapter is dedicated to IJKS! Seeing as I plan on being far too intoxicated tomorrow night to post any chapters, I'm putting an extra long one up now :)_

**Chapter Eleven**

They lay on the beach, and both let out sighs of contentment. The warm sun was beating down, there was a light breeze, and they were sandy and salty from the water. An almost-cold pile of chips was lying in between their towels and they reached over occasionally to shovel one into their mouths.

"This is heaven," Emily announced.

"True that," Joey agreed. She had the day off and they'd spent all afternoon on the beach, just enjoying each other's company. They were taking Emily's mind off missing her girlfriend, and Joey's off Charlie.

Joey was so thankful that they'd met – it had been a long time since she'd had a really close female friend. One she hadn't ended up sleeping with anyway, she thought bitterly about Charlie. And even more importantly, she'd never had a gay friend before. Having someone to confide in who had been through so many of the same things she had was amazing.

Joey leaned on her elbows and shielded her eyes from the sun.

"Oh no," she muttered. She could see a familiar figure running towards them. "There she is."

Emily didn't need to ask Joey who she was talking about. She quickly sat up, curious to see this treacherous harpy who'd broken Joey's heart. The woman slowed to a walk as she approached.

"Hey, Joey," Charlie said breathlessly. She had seen Joey's outline from what seemed like miles away – there was something so recognisable about the way she held herself even when she was just relaxing. Standing here now, her eyes were drawn to Joey's body. She was wearing a bikini top and board shorts - Charlie stared at the line of her waist and her stomach muscles, the way the water beaded on her soft skin. The way certain things showed through the fabric of her bikini (must be cold). She pulled her eyes away with effort.

"Hi Charlie," Joey said. Emily had to give her credit; she had a good poker face. Joey sounded like she was greeting a neighbour or the local shop keeper. "Charlie, this is Emily, Emily, Charlie," she said dutifully.

"Hi Emily, nice to meet you," Charlie said.

"Nice to meet you too," Emily replied. She was assessing Charlie's every move, ready to give Joey a full report once she left. They had already spent a sizable portion of the afternoon talking about her.

Charlie kicked at the sand with her trainer, looking uncomfortable. "Having a picnic?" she said, making conversation.

"Yep," Joey said.

"Beautiful day for it," Emily jumped in. She hated to see anyone look so lost.

"Yeah, it's lovely," Charlie answered gratefully. An awkward silence descended. "Well, I'll leave you to it then." She said her goodbyes and ran off.

"Fuuuuuuck," Emily said meaningfully.

"What? I handled that okay didn't I?" Joey asked.

"No, I mean wow. She's _gorgeous_. Oh my god, those eyes!" Emily squealed. No wonder Joey seemed so hung up on what had happened between them – the woman was stunning.

Joey lay back down, her heart rate slowly returning to normal. It was one thing to see Charlie at the diner where she was half expecting to, but seeing her suddenly on the beach like that was enough to make her extremely nervous.

"Okay, it's all starting to make sense now," Emily said.

"I told you she was pretty."

"No, I mean, why things are so complicated. She's got a boyfriend, but she spent the whole time staring at your boobs. She's a total pervert," Emily stated matter-of-factly.

Joey burst out laughing. She was still getting used to Emily's crassness. She found it very funny. Emily looked kind of sweet but she'd never met anyone who swore so much or used so many rude words. "What are you talking about?"

"I wouldn't wear a bikini around her again. She couldn't take her eyes off you."

"Are you serious?" Joey asked.

"Yeah I am. She's still into you, I'm sure of it."

Joey closed her eyes. She had seen Charlie's eyes move over her – she'd seen it often - but the thought that it meant anything had seemed like wishful thinking.

** ** **

Charlie ran as hard as she could; feeling the wind whip through her ponytail. She had been foolish. After Joey had flirted with her in the diner she'd raised her hopes that things might be changing between them, but Joey had been cold again just like before. Tears of humiliation stung her eyes.

She was jealous. She wanted to be the one lying beside Joey. As she had so many times lately, she ached with wanting to just be in Joey's company. She wanted to be with someone who made her laugh, who listened to what she had to say. Someone who made her heart beat faster, who excited her in every way.

She wondered who Emily was. She was good looking and seemed nice enough. Charlie hoped that she wasn't dating Joey, and then cursed herself for being so selfish. _You have a boyfriend. And_ _if they are together, I hope she treats Joey better than I did_.

** ** **

Joey looked at the clock, noting that it was nearly time for her to finish up her shift. She glanced towards the doorway for the hundredth time that day. Charlie hadn't come in all day, or the day before.

She felt horribly guilty for not giving Charlie the time of day on the beach and embarrassing her, especially in front of someone else. She hadn't wanted to look pathetic in front of Emily and she wasn't proud of her behaviour. She wasn't proud of a lot of things lately. Joey also knew that Charlie had probably been wondering who Emily was. Maybe a part of her wanted Charlie to wonder.

Right on cue, Emily walked in the door with Aden in tow. The three of them were becoming inseparable lately, and Aden had started referring to himself as the local "lesbro". They were on their way to Noah's and insisted that Joey join them.

They bantered around the pool table. Sometimes Joey felt like they were a three person comedy act, with Aden and Emily vying to see who could be the funniest. She actually got a sore face sometimes from smiling, and it was a more than welcome change from how she'd been the last few months.

"I thought your kind was supposed to be good at pool," Aden said cheekily when he won a game against Emily.

"Best out of three, man candy," Emily challenged him.

"I'm going to get us drinks," Joey announced.

Aden lined up a shot and paused for a second when something crossed his line of vision. "Shit, Charlie and Angelo are here," he said. He had always kind of liked Charlie, but she brought out his protective instincts towards Joey. He couldn't understand how Charlie could go from a top chick like Joey to a complete tool like Angelo. Obviously her taste in women was better than her taste in men. Emily looked over her shoulder and saw Charlie, looking even more gorgeous out of her running clothes, with a fairly nondescript guy on her arm. They were just sitting down at one of the tables.

"Should we go?" she asked Aden.

"Wait til Joey gets back, we'll see what she reckons." As he said the words, Joey turned around with the necks of three stubbies clenched between her fingers. It looked as though she almost dropped them when she saw Charlie, but she recovered quickly and turned to walk back to the pool table.

"Do you want to head off?" Emily asked, putting a hand on Joey's shoulder.

Joey handed out their drinks, thinking. "No. It's okay. If we leave straight away it will look really obvious, let's just finish our drinks and then go somewhere else." She went and leaned against the wall, turning to the side so that she wasn't directly facing their table.

"There's Joey," Angelo pointed out, "do you want to go and say hello?"

Charlie studied her menu. "No, it's fine." She'd seen Joey as soon as she walked in and was determined to act as though it wasn't an issue. But she'd seen Emily put her hand on Joey and her heart had sunk.

"Who's that girl they're with? Is that her new partner?" he asked her, looking over his shoulder to look at Emily.

"How should I know, Angelo?" she said irritably. "It's none of my business, or yours either."

He pulled a face and went back to looking at his menu. She was so touchy lately, or touchier with him than usual anyway, and it was beginning to worry him. Things had not been the same since Joey had come back, but every time he tried to bring it up she shot him down.

"I'm going to the bathroom," Charlie said, scraping back her chair. She kept her head down as she walked past the pool tables. Joey watched her pass and waited a minute. Angelo had his back to them and the others were engrossed in their game, so she slid around the corner and followed Charlie into the bathrooms.

When she entered, Charlie was at the basin. Their eyes met in the mirror and Charlie dropped her gaze back to her hands. Her heart was thudding in her chest and she took a second before turning around to lean against the sink.

"I haven't seen you for a few days," Joey said, putting her hands in her pockets. She tried consciously to keep her eyes on Charlie's face but she couldn't help looking downwards, to see her long legs under the dress she was wearing.

"Yeah, I've been pretty busy," Charlie replied vaguely.

"Listen, I wanted to say – I'm sorry if I was a bit rude to you on the beach the other day."

"That's okay," Charlie said quickly, gratefully.

They stood still for a beat. Charlie hesitated. "I know I don't have the right to ask, but are you and that girl together?"

Joey shook her head. "Emily? No, no, we're just friends. She's got a girlfriend, she lives in Queensland. She's just down visiting some family; she'll probably be here a couple more weeks. . ." Joey realised she was rambling.

"She seems really nice," Charlie offered.

"Yeah, she is."

They smiled at one another, each relieved to be having a normal conversation.

"Well, I'd better be getting back," Charlie said, although it was the last thing she wanted.

She started to walk past Joey, who suddenly put her hand out to take Charlie's arm. She didn't want her to go. Her mind always told her to be strong and leave Charlie alone, but the rest of her body had other ideas. Charlie stood still and they looked into one another's eyes. They edged closer to one another, the space between them charged.

"I hate that I'm still so attracted to you," Joey confessed. She didn't know what it was that made her suddenly feel so honest, except that she felt helpless. As soon as the words were out she regretted them, particularly because Charlie hadn't replied. "Say something."

"I'm attracted to you too."

"Really?"

"Isn't that painfully obvious?" she replied softly brushing Joey's hair behind her ear, and Joey closed her eyes at the intimate gesture. They each wanted to take that next step, but neither was willing to be rejected.

"Will you meet me later?" Charlie asked. "I'm not going to beg. But this isn't working. We're no closer to sorting anything out, are we?"

Joey nodded. She was holding on to Charlie, her hands sliding over her upper arms. "Maybe we need to just have it out. Meet me on the beach out the front of here? At about ten."

"Okay," Charlie whispered. "Promise me you'll come?" She moved forward so that her forehead was resting on Joey's.

They jumped apart as the door squeaked open, and Emily stood there looking embarrassed. "Sorry guys, I was just . . . " she walked quickly into a cubicle.

"I will," Joey said as quietly as she could, and left.


	12. Chapter 12

_Hey all! Thank you so much for all your awesome reviews, they have really brought a smile to my face and inspire me to keep writing. Thanks for reading :)_

**Chapter Twelve**

Before they could order, Charlie feigned illness and told Angelo that she needed to go home. He suspected that it had to do with Joey's presence, but if she didn't want to be in the same room with Joey then he wasn't about to see that as a bad thing.

They drove in silence. When they pulled up she started to get out of the car, telling him goodnight as she went.

"Hey! Can I come in?" he said, figuring she was just being absent-minded. He had thought she would drop the pretence of feeling sick once they got home.

She fidgeted, holding the car door open. "I'm really not feeling well. I'll call you tomorrow?"

He stared at her. He got the feeling that if he tried to push it she was going to bite, so he decided to leave it alone. "Sure," he said, his jaw firmly clenched. He was getting very tired of being pushed away all the time, but obviously now wasn't the right time to get into it. Maybe she really was sick, though he doubted it.

She watched the car lights recede until she was sure that he was gone, and turned to walk back to where they'd come from.

** ** **

Emily waited until Aden had gone to the bar before talking to Joey.

"What's going on?" she asked, concerned.

Joey looked away, not wanting to meet her eyes. She was embarrassed at being caught in what must have looked like a very compromising position. They'd spent a lot of time talking about Charlie and how much she'd had her heart broken; she knew she must look like a fool running back into her arms. Especially when Charlie's boyfriend had been right in the next room.

"I don't know. We're going to meet up later and talk. Look, don't mention this in front of Aden okay? The less people who know about this, the better."

"Yeah okay, of course." Emily leaned forward, narrowing her eyes. She was starting to feel like there was a lot that she didn't know. "Have you and Charlie been seeing each other on the sly?"

"No, no. We haven't, I've told you everything there is to know."

"So what did I walk in on?"

Joey looked over her shoulder to make sure that Aden was still in conversation with Alf. "I wish I knew. I just wanted to talk to her quickly and I don't know, it went a bit far I suppose. Fuck, what am I doing?" She pressed her hands to her closed eyes.

"It's okay, it's okay." Emily patted Joey's arm. "Do you _want_ to go and talk to her?"

Joey shrugged helplessly. "Yeah, I do. The whole thing's a mess. The way we've been going isn't working, so I don't know what else to do. This is a small place, we've been running into each other all the time. If the air doesn't get cleared properly, once and for all, it's always going to be awkward."

"Then do it," she paused, not wanting to overstep her bounds. They hadn't been friends for long, but she already cared a lot about Joey and she hated to see her so clearly being stuffed around. "Don't get mad at me, but just watch out for her alright? She's messed with your head before, she can do it again. The woman has a boyfriend, she needs to sort herself out."

"I know," Joey said, trying not to get annoyed. She was only having a problem listening to such advice because she knew Emily was right.

"Don't let those big blue eyes hypnotise you. She's hot, she has special powers," Emily said, trying to lighten the mood.

Joey smiled, playing along. "I know this."

"And the other thing is, I want to know EVERYTHING," she hurriedly said as Aden came back to join them.

"What are my two number one ladies talking about?" he asked.

"Nothing," they said at the same time.

** ** **

She saw the dark shape of Charlie in the moonlight, sitting on the sand. She called out hello as she moved closer, so that she wouldn't scare her. She could make out Charlie's face as she turned to look.

"I wasn't sure you'd come," Charlie said softly.

"I promised." She sat down next to Charlie, deliberately not sitting too close. Emily's warning had brought her back to earth and she felt wary again. Although she knew it hadn't been calculated, Charlie had proven herself to be very good at making her forget which way was up.

She looked out at the black waves crashing on the sand. She could feel Charlie's eyes on her and it was clear that neither of them knew where to start.

"Thank you for coming," Charlie said.

"That's okay." She could feel tension in her whole body, her shoulders taut. This was weird. It seemed like it didn't matter how far apart she tried to sit and how much she tried to detach, her skin still tingled at being alone with Charlie like this.

"I wanted to talk to you all this time. Now I don't know what to say," Charlie confessed, laughing nervously. She felt like she had one chance to say the right thing, and she was terrified of blowing it.

"I know. I don't know what to say either."

Charlie spoke quickly, deciding she might as well just dive in. "I guess I feel like we've got so much unfinished business. I understand why you left the way you did, but we never really got any closure."

Joey rubbed her palms on her jeans. She was lightly sweating, she had never thought they would have this conversation and she had never wanted to.

"I told you at the time that there was nothing to talk about. I shouldn't have to tell you how much you broke my trust. There's no talking your way around that, Charlie. Sometimes people just need to break up, and there's nothing to work out. I'm sorry but that's how I felt, and nothing's changed. You've moved on now, so it makes even less sense to hash it all over now."

Her speech was met with silence.

"Okay," Charlie said after a few long moments, sounding resigned. How could she say that she hadn't moved on at all, when Joey seemed to feel nothing for her now? She had been elated earlier, knowing how much Joey was obviously still attracted to her. But maybe that was all it was for Joey, just the pull of an old chemistry. Joey obviously didn't love her anymore – maybe she didn't even like her.

_That's it? _Joey thought. _That's all I had to say all these weeks, to make her back off?_

Joey paused. If she didn't ask now, she would always wonder. Some things she'd been talking about with Emily had been playing on her mind. "I just – can I ask you one thing?"

"Of course you can," she said. She felt like crying, and swallowed the lump in her throat.

"I don't know how to put it but . . . was I an experiment for you? Did you just want to try it out, because you'd been having a rough time?"

Charlie was shocked. That had been the last thing that she was expecting. "How can you ask me that? You know how much I agonised over my feelings for you!" She realised that her voice was rising and she was starting to sound hysterical. She couldn't believe that Joey would even think about reducing their relationship to that status. "It wasn't something I took lightly, I was serious about us."

"Okay. I'm sorry. But I think I have a right to ask. You did sleep with a guy just to prove you weren't gay, and you obviously got together with Angelo pretty quickly after I left. You told me that there was no shame in being gay and then you wouldn't even hold my hand in public. So what else am I supposed to think?"

Joey was starting to realise just how raw her wounds still were. Now that they were talking about it, she was feeling it all over again. She knew that some of what she was saying wasn't fair, but all she could think about was how it had felt at the time. Her temper was starting to flare and she could tell that it was the same for Charlie.

Charlie opened her mouth, not sure where to start. She had thought Joey had understood some of what she was going through, that it had all been new to her and she had just needed more time. But the words about Angelo stung the most, maybe because she knew they were true. She hadn't waited. But Joey didn't know what it had been like to wait for her, and to hear nothing.

"Exactly Joey, you _left_ me, and you didn't call me or write to me. You weren't even going to say goodbye. You let me think that I might never see you again. And I had to find out you weren't planning on coming back when you said you were from _Brett _of all people!"

Joey took a deep breath and tried to calm down. She was about to say something she really regretted.

"I thought it was for the best. Once I got away and thought about things, I realised maybe it would just be better for both of us to just leave it be."

Charlie tried to follow Joey's lead and calm down. She thought for a moment before speaking. Her mind was ticking over, and some things were suddenly making sense. "Does your thinking that it was for the best have anything to do with your other question?"

"What do you mean?" Joey asked.

Charlie reached over and took Joey's hand, looking down at their interlaced fingers when she spoke.

"Did you turn your back on me so completely because you thought I'd never really loved you in the first place?"

"Yes," Joey said simply. Those months on the boat had been amongst the hardest of her life. She'd looked back and thought herself a fool for ever trusting Charlie, for ever thinking that Charlie could ever return her love in the way that she wanted.

"You were wrong," Charlie said, with so much conviction Joey could not doubt it. "I loved you more than I ever loved anyone," she said, speaking carefully when she found that she was almost slipping into the present tense.

Joey couldn't answer. Overwhelmed by the words, she squeezed Charlie's hand.

"I was a wreck when you left," Charlie confided. "I'm not saying I don't understand why you did it, I knew I deserved it. But it all happened so fast. One day we were together, and it was . . . exciting, and scary, and new. I thought we had so much ahead of us. And then it was all just over."

Joey struggled to reply. "I know. That's how I felt, exactly."

With their hands linked, they looked out at the water. Joey turned her head and saw that Charlie was watching her in the dark.

At the same time they put their hands to one another's faces. The emotions their talk had aroused were too much too ignore. They moved in, closing the distance between them. Joey's lips moved to Charlie's and they kissed slowly, tasting one another.

Charlie opened her mouth and sought out Joey's tongue with her own, burning with the sweetness of it. She put her hands to Joey's shoulders, clutching the material of her shirt in her hands, pulling her in.

Their kiss became more urgent. Joey slid her hand up Charlie's smooth bared thigh and brushed it gently with her fingers, raising shivers in both of them. Charlie responded by running her tongue over Joey's soft lower lip, causing her to gasp.

They broke apart for breath.

"God Joey, you make me feel . . ." Charlie started, but didn't know how to finish. She leaned in and touched her lips to Joey's again softly, savouring the contact. Joey put her palm to Charlie's cheek and tenderly stroked her skin.

"I think I should go. Should I go?" Joey said, rambling, her voice think with desire. She had a feeling that they were dangerously close to going down the path of having sex right here on the beach. All she wanted to do was touch Charlie, every part of her. Her whole body remembered what it was like to make love with Charlie, and right now the thought of repeating the experience was making her tremble with the wanting of it. "I should. I'm going to go now. I'll talk to you later."

"Okay. Are you okay?" Charlie said. She smoothed out Joey's shirt with her hands, trying to avoid the temptation to move them lower. She felt out of control with lust. Nobody had ever made her feel this way.

"Um, yeah. Are you?" Joey said. Charlie was well and truly rattled, and nodding like an idiot, not knowing what to do.

"Then . . . goodnight, Charlie."

"Goodnight," Charlie replied, waiting until Joey left to put her head in her hands. She guiltily tried to wipe the smile off her face.


End file.
